4th of July Fireworks

I watched the 4th of July Fireworks above the rock quarry at 192nd in East Vancouver. Great location except for the bright street lights. The fireworks were truly spectacular!

Canby Geocoin Hunt, Canby, Oregon

My #2 son, Christopher, and I did the Canby Geocoin Hunt in Canby, Oregon. I had 17 finds for the day. Christopher also found two Geocaches that I did not search for making it 19 finds for him. Great weather. We found one benchmark and several more geocaches after we picked up the Canby Geocoin just before noon. We had mighty tasty Pepper Bacon Cheeseburgers at Burgerville for lunch. This was definitely one of the best Geocoin Hunts that we have done!!

8th Annual Columbia River Gorge Geocachers Potluck, North Bonneville, Washington

My #2 son, Christopher, and I attended the 8th Annual Columbia River Gorge Geocachers Potluck on Saturday afternoon, June 20th. There was good food, good company, and good geocaching "stuff" in a nice park in North Bonneville, Washington. There was lots of good raffle prizes to be won. I won an incredible Brahean Geocoin. It was a bit on the chilly side but we had a great time. Christopher and I did some benchmarking and geocaching before and after the Event. Beautiful sunset as we drove back into Portland.

The Grant County Fair Geocoin Hunt, June 12, 2009

My #2 son, Christopher, and I traveled to Pendleton Thursday afternoon staying overnight in a suite at the Red Lion. We found a few geocaches along I-84 and in Pendleton.

We did The Grant County Fair Geocoin Hunt Friday with some benchmarking and geocaching along the way. We began the hunt just before noon at a historic building in Long Creek and completed it about 9:41pm in a cemetery with four or five? graves on a dark hill near Canyon City. We had delicious homemade sandwiches with pickle from the South Fork Mini Market in Dayville which we ate at the nearby park along the river.

After staying overnight in John Day in a suite at the Best Western, we picked up the geocoin at the John Day True Value Hardware on Main Street. This was by far one of the best Geocoin Hunts/Challenges that we have done. We did benchmarking and geocaching in the morning in the area and then traveled back to Portland/Vancouver via Hwy 19 and I-8 doing more benchmarking and geocaching in the afternoon.

We stopped again for delicious homemade sandwiches with pickle at the South Fork Mini Market in Dayville which we ate at the table. We saved half our sandwiches for later. I purchased a bag of Lays BBQ chips and drink at Thrifty Food Center to go with our half sandwiches for a picnic lunch at the park gazebo in Arlington.

We had really great weather -- cool and a bit rainy sometimes. Thunder and lighting in the distance a few times. I had never seen Central Oregon so green!! There were wildflowers in profusion. We saw several deer even in front yards. Birds sang and crickets chirped loudly.

Attended the Willamette Stone - 150 Event

I had a great time at the Willamette Stone - Oregon 150 Event. About 10:00AM my #2 son, Christopher, and I walked downhill to the Willamette Stone. Stonework and three benches have been added since my last visit. Bill Glenn (PLS 609) gave a fascinating talk and Jeanne helped with the demonstration of the very early Young & Sons, Philadelphia solar compass. About 10:45 Christopher and I walked up the path to the parking area where we listened to the program until 11:40 when I took him to work. I returned for the rest of the program. I took photos of the three cakes -- a white cake, chocolate cake and a carrot cake -- with three different decorations. I had several interesting conversations with geocachers especially about the upcoming Grant County Geocoin Challenge.

Willamette Stone - Oregon 150, Saturday, May 30, 2009

On Saturday, May 30th, there will be a celebration of the Oregon 150th Birthday and the 50th Anniversary of the Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon - part of the National Society of Professional Surveyors geocache program.

Come celebrate Oregon's 150th birthday and the start of a new series of caches about the Surveying history of Oregon. There will be historical surveying re-enactments, survey history presentations, geocaching presentation to kick off the cache series and celebration of the improvements to one of Oregon's most historically significant state parks. Limited edition collector coin. Come join the fun from 10am-2pm.

Geocaching and Benchmarking in Oregon

On Saturday, May 16th, my #2 son, Christopher, and I spent the day geocaching and benchmarking. We found several NGS benchmarks and several traditional caches in the morning. We saw the Southern Pacific Steam Engine 1785 on display in Woodland, Oregon near a benchmark. When we were on an overpass looking for benchmarks a policeman pulled up behind my parked car and walked up to question me as someone reported that we were stealing guard rails (luckily he had heard about geocaching!). By far the most interesting part of the day was spent exploring the area around the former Chemawa Indian School and the Chemawa Cemetery. In the afternoon we did a Virtual in Keizer, Oregon before heading back.